There are about 9316 clinical studies being (or have been) conducted in Switzerland. The country of the clinical trial is determined by the location of where the clinical research is being studied. Most studies are often held in multiple locations & countries.
With the project Smart Muscle for Incontinence Treatment (SMIT) a multidisciplinary consortium consisting of representatives ranging from clinical medicine via microelectronics towards biomaterial science aims to develop a novel implant to treat faecal incontinence. The aim of this campaign includes development of implantable prototype devices acting as artificial continence muscles using low-voltage electrically activated polymers (EAPs) controlled by implemented pressure sensors and the patient. Subsequently, the knowledge of the anatomical and biomechanical properties of the anal sphincter complex are of cardinal importance. Most of the existing data on anatomy and physiology results is based on old studies and almost no data on biomechanical properties are available. However, new technologies or even merging data from different examination methods might provide new information in this field.
AbsorbISR is a randomized, controlled trial, single center, prospective, not blinded to evaluate two strategies of in stent restenosis treatment: Implantation of drug eluting bioresorbable stent scaffold Absorb® vs. balloon angioplasty with drug eluting balloon Sequent Please®.
Spinal cord injury and other systemic neurological diseases (Multiple Sclerosis, Parkinson's disease) affect the integrity of lower urinary tract (LUT) function, leading to neurogenic lower urinary tract dysfunction (NLUTD). The urodynamic investigation is the current "gold-standard" for evaluating LUT function. Nevertheless, the sensory situation of the LUT cannot be investigated objectively. Furthermore, the current classification of the severity of the NLUTD due to spinal cord injury (SCI) does not represent the sensory situation of the LUT. Additional investigations therefore need to be established for assessing the sensory situation of the LUT. Somatosensory evoked potentials (SEPs) are an established method for investigating the processing of sensory nervous activity. However, SEPs from the LUT of SCI individuals have not yet been investigated. A novel technique, i.e. diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), allows to process magnetic resonance images (MRI) in order to visualize nerve fibers. Using DTI, the innervation of the bladder after SCI can be visualized. The structural presentation of bladder innervation will be compared with the functional results, i.e. the SEP of the LUT in SCI individuals. The primary objective of the proposed study is to elicit and characterize (latency, amplitude) the somatosensory evoked potentials (SEPs) from the bladder in individuals suffering from neurogenic lower urinary tract dysfunction as a result of spinal cord injury. Furthermore, the SEPs from the bladder will be compared with the SEPs from peripheral nerves (N. tibialis, N. pudendus, N. medianus). Moreover, the latency and amplitude of the SEPs from the bladder of individuals with somato-sensory complete spinal cord injury will be compared with those from the bladder of individuals with somato-sensory incomplete spinal cord injury. Finally, the structural innervation of the bladder after SCI will be compared with the remaining sensory function.
Randomized, multicenter trial to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of 2 different follows up programs in head and neck cancer survivors. Patients in complete remission at month 6 (+/- 1 month) after curative treatment will be randomized in two arms according to 2 different follow up approaches: Non Intensive Follow up approach (Arm A) with no radiologic evaltuations scheduled, but required only at the occurence of any signs or symptoms and Intensive Follow up approach (Arm B) with scheduled radiologic evaluations.
Bulimia nervosa is a severe psychiatric disorder characterized by recurrent binge eating episodes followed by inappropriate compensatory behavior to prevent weight gain such as self-induced vomiting. With this project, the investigators want to investigate the role of the neurotransmitter dopamine in bulimia nervosa. Dopamine is reported to have an important influence on the neural reward system and is involved in the processing of gains and losses. The reward system is functionally connected to the individual perception of rewards in the environment. A previous study revealed that under catecholamine depletion including dopamine depletion women suffering from bulimia nervosa in their past reported mild bulimic symptoms and their reward processing became dysfunctional: their ability to use rewarding stimuli for task solving was diminished. The aim of this study is to investigate the role of reduced dopamine availability in the development or maintaining of bulimia nervosa and in the dysfunctional processing of rewarding stimuli and negative visual information. Therefore, the investigators hypothesize that catecholamine depletion achieved by oral administration of alpha-methyl-paratyrosine (AMPT) will induce mild bulimic symptoms in females suffering from bulimia nervosa in their past. In addition, they will reveal dysfunctions in reward and emotional processing under catecholamine depletion. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, the investigators propose that a reduced activation of the nucleus accumbens, a neural structure of the reward system, will be the neural correlate of this dysfunctional reward processing. Furthermore, the amygdala, a neural structure that is involved in emotional processing, will show a higher activation under catecholamine depletion. Genetic factors additionally have an influence on the dopaminergic system. Therefore, the investigators hypothesize that genetic factors, for example the COMT val-158-met polymorphism may have an effect on the behavioral and neural response to catecholamine depletion. In sum, this investigation may help to understand which changes in reward and emotional processing may lead to a reoccurrence of bulimic symptoms. In future, the findings of this study may help to develop individual pharmacological and psychotherapeutical interventions to enhance the outcome of treatment.
The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of beginning a renal replacement therapy on fluid overload and its consequence on the severity of obstructive sleep apnea, in patients with end stage chronic kidney disease. It aims further to investigate the relationship between overhydration, nocturnal rostral fluid shift and the severity of sleep apnea.
Melanoma's incidence is increasing worldwide. The efforts made in melanoma screening led to an earlier detection of the primary tumour and a better prognosis, but melanoma remains an aggressive cancer when it comes to its metastatic stage. Three recent retrospective studies compared groups of patients diagnosed with primary melanoma and treated with betablockers for another indication to patients who never received betablockers. In these three studies, the outcome of the disease is significantly better for people under betablocker treatment with a decreased rate of recurrence and a better 5 years survival rate. Here we want to investigate the efficacy and the tolerability of an adjuvant treatment with propranolol for patients suffering from a primary melanoma with a high risk of recurrence.
The aim of this project is to demonstrate and validate the ionizing radiation free and non invasive assessment of small intestinal anatomy, content and function in healthy and disease by a newly developed combined proton (1H) and fluorine (19F) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) framework. Meal induced and pathology related alterations in small intestinal motor activity, gas distribution and anatomy of healthy volunteers and patients with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) will be analyzed with this non invasive MRI approach. The multinuclear imaging framework consists of a 1H and 19F capable clinical 3T MRI system with standard 1H abdominal surface coils, a dual-channel transmit-receive abdominal 19F surface coil, fluorine labelled impermeable and biocompatible capsules for oral administration (19F capsule) and a 19F projection imaging sequence allowing for the non-invasive detection of the gastrointestinal positions of single and multiple ingested capsules in real time. Dedicated post-processing algorithms are applied to extract parameters of intestinal motor activity from the detected intraluminal capsule movements. The proposed unique imaging modality allows for the concurrent, non invasive and repeated analysis of important physiologic parameters of intestinal function together with detailed anatomical information and thus presents an ideal tool for the evaluation of the analyzed parameters as potential biomarkers in IBS. - Trial with medical device
Improvement in heart failure with moderate to severe mitral regurgitation using a percutaneously delivered implantable device.
Patients with advanced stage melanoma who underwent vaccination with the Melan-A/MART-1 peptide and who display detectable levels of Melan-A specific CD8+ T cells in peripheral blood are eligible for this trial. After collecting and freezing of these tumor specific T cells via apheresis, patients undergo a single cycle of immunosuppressive chemotherapy. 3 days after, cells are reinfused and peptide vaccination continued. The aim of this immunotherapy protocol is to boost tumor specific T cells during the immune recovery period in order to reinforce the patients' immune response against the tumor.